All Things Indian

All I wanted for Christmas this year was the opportunity to spend it with staff and kids at my favorite Children's Home near Bangalore in India. I wasn't the only one with this wish, for the Roberts family from TCIS had the same idea when we first started talking last August. It took little time for us to put the wish into motion, contacting the Home to see if our visit was possible and nailing down dates after we got the OK.

Here are pictures of Dina, Rebecca and Sarah Roberts enjoying their Christmas wish...



Plans were soon in place including making flights to India via Thailand, figuring what we would do with the kids once we got to India and collecting donations to meet the need for bedding for 100 kids. Activity ideas (crafts, music, stories and games) came quickly and I put the word out to the TCIS community late October asking for donations. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of our community for by December 18th we had collected a few thousand dollars to meet the need for bedding and then some!


When I mentioned the funds had been wired to the Home's bank account and the 5th graders from TCIS took a special collection just for the bedding needs, the kids were very thankful. Now they have extra bedding to keep them warm during the cool winter nights. In fact they were quite eager to pose for pictures with the blankets and send thank you drawings to share with the people at TCIS.




As described in previous posts (when I was in India last April 2009), once a person arrives at the Home they don't leave! Well, they do eventually, but those who come to visit stay in an upstairs apartment and don't venture off the premises until they are done their stay at the orphanage. Reasons? Well, for one, the Home is out in the sticks and there are few neighboring farming villages nearby, none of them having a Holiday Inn or provisions for tourists of any kind. We could perhaps find a family to stay with but that would be the closest thing to renting a room here in these parts. It is safe to say that very few people come to this part of India as tourists.

But that's just fine with me. The reason I come all this way is to spend as much time as I can with the kids and living upstairs is a fantastic solution. After all: meals are provided by the staff, you have a place to lay your head at the end of the day and you are in close proximity to the kids... what more do you want? Here's a picture of my two sidekicks waiting on the stairs for me to come down and play.







Visitors to the orphanage are reminded constantly that they are in India and things are done just a little different than back home. I find it fascinating to experience the change in landscape and climate, to hear the kids communicate in numerous dialects, witness daily activities so different from my own and see how cultural traditions stretching back hundreds of years can influence thought and action in the lives of the kids today.

The grounds at the Home always active with monkeys, geckos and roaming cows, parrots in trees, the occasional game of cricket, washing of laundry by hand against a stone, kids climbing buildings and maintaining their own gardens, etc, etc. One afternoon I couldn't believe when the boys climbed a palm tree (in bare feet of course) to grab a coconut and then, after they got down, use a knife to make a hole and offer me the first drink. Nothing like fresh coconut juice right from the shell! Then no more than 10 minutes later I marveled at a couple girls drawing beautiful artwork on others' arms and hands to enhance the dance costume for the next day's Christmas program. Such is life in India and at the Home.














And imagine my surprise when twenty-three village kids climbed in and out of one auto-rickshaw every weekday on their way to and from school held at the Home. I remember eleven of us climbing into Ed Penner's VW Bug when I was a teenager but this beats that record by a mile =)

Kannada Christmas

Note: I haven't been away from Canada that long that I forgot how to spell it! By sheer coincidence, Kannada is the language of south India where I happen to be right now. Funny, but I thought the Indian population had a fascination with my country before I realized they were talking about their dialect. =)

Friday December 25, 2009

"It's Christmas day here at the orphanage in Bangalore India and I'm writing this from the upstairs apartment while listening to the old Shell Christmas album on my iPod, an album that I so vividly identify with my childhood. Quite a contrast, actually, remembering so many past Christmases compared to witnessing Christmas here at the orphanage in another part of the world. The constant factor, of course, is that Christ's birth is celebrated regardless whether that includes the trimmings, gifts, multi-course meals, family visits and other comforts of home.

Speaking of comforts of home, I did miss one this morning. I can do without a lot of the trimmings but taking a hot shower is a comfort I'm not so eager to give up. I knew a bucket shower was waiting for me if I wanted to clean up –- literally using a bucket to pour water from the well over me limb by limb. Admittedly, I had to work up my nerve before taking the plunge so I took my time shooing the little bird that resides in my bathroom off its perch (over the florescent light) back outside; there is a hole in the window the bird uses to come and go. I don't mind brushing my teeth with the bird watching but taking a shower, you might say, is a 'bird of a different feather'. I'm happy to report that the bird cooperated, I survived the chilled shower and never felt so invigorated when all was said and done.

I woke to the sound of kids at 5 a.m. this morning eager to get ready for the day ahead. They are sooo excited because they get to dress in their best, get a day off school (back the next day), enjoy a holiday meal and put on a program for friends and neighbors. Opening gifts Christmas morning is not even a thought for them because there are no gifts for them to open. That's why I'm glad our team brought candy and small toys to stuff in the paper stockings they made as a craft this week, as well as some DVDs I wrapped and brought with me. I determined exactly which movies they liked from my visit last April so they were real excited to open them as gifts.





Kids and adults from neighboring villages joined us at the Home around 10 a.m. to enjoy our Christmas program and a meal; it's one way of building a relationship with the surrounding community. The kids really did a great job in the program contributing their heart-felt talents. Today's program seemed quite simple in contrast to the typical Sunday-school productions we're used to in our churches back home. Let's just say there was a lot of music and dancing -- Indian style -- mixed in with some reading of Scripture, short message and a re-enactment of Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem.



Timing and 'getting it right' didn't seem to matter much to the kids or staff during the program; they just had a wonderful time celebrating and performing for a willing audience. At one point I couldn't contain my laughter during our singing of the Twelve Days of Christmas. The kids did not know the song when I first introduced it so we practiced it all week with actions: the kids, who were divided into the twelve days, were to stand up with their drawing of a day/gift at the appropriate moment while singing the song. Of course, the most important gift is on the first day because it is in every verse. Well, our 'partridge in a pear tree' decided to leave the room right when we started singing 'on the 8th day of Christmas'; he figured he needed to help some kids get ready for the next number. Too funny. We finished the song without him even though his presence (or should I say 'presents') was missed.

It was great that Ryan, one of our team members, agreed to step up at the last minute and give a 5 minute talk on the meaning of Christmas. He reminded us that Christmas is not about gifts or money or celebrations but about God choosing to come down to earth as an infant to show us the way to relationship and eternal life with Him. I still have a difficult time wrapping my head around the fact that God, the Creator of life, would come to earth as a dependent infant in the arms of two young parents. God must love us to go to this extreme to establish relationship and communicate with us!

After the program we all sat down to an incredible festive Indian meal called Biriyani catered by a local vendor. As is typical of any meal, Indians eat only using their hands so I'm sure many of those in attendance that day chuckled when seeing our team needing silverware. I venture to say it would take me quite awhile before I would feel comfortable eating these sauce-type meals with fingers only.




What a wonderful opportunity to meet many of the visitors from the community, including two former residents of the Home named Ravi and Shuba who are now contributing to the community as adults. Ravi, for instance, who is close to 30 years has completed a Masters of Communication and is working toward a law degree. I learned he is working with police forces across India educating them how to combat induction of women and children in the sex slave trade and showing thousands to Christ in the meantime, including former sex trade organizers!

Shuba (on the right) recently left the orphanage and is now in college studying science and on his way to becoming a doctor. What wonderful examples of how God can work with those in desperate situations, not only meeting immediate daily needs but preparing them for His work later in life!

When the guests from the neighboring villages left in the late afternoon, we returned the paper stockings the kids made earlier in the week complete with candy and small toys inside. Needless to say, the kids were glowing from ear to ear –- literally, wrapping glow sticks (which were included in the stockings) around their necks and just about everywhere else =) Then we selected a few kids to unwrap the last of the video gifts I brought with me from Korea so we could settle down to an evening of entertainment.



Once the videos started playing and the kids became enthralled with the latest Batman cartoons and Disney movies, Talu asked whether we could go for a walk outside on the grounds. He had something on his mind he wanted to share and, knowing I was leaving the next day, wanted to make sure we got to converse while we could.


As we walked and talked, Talu surprised me by what he wanted to talk about. Over the past year, we've had numerous conversations about what it looks like to live as Christians but he wanted to affirm to me this evening that his priority is to grow in his relationship with God and be more consistent in it -– in other words, keep his focus on God through the good times as well as the difficult times. Talu recognizes his focus is not always on God as it should and, as a result, God allows difficulties in his life so he will refocus, prompting him to call on God for peace and strength.

I had to remember this is a 12 year old boy I was talking to, who lives in a Children's Home and who has encountered more difficulty in his life than most of us have already into our adulthood! Perhaps it isn't so amazing then that Talu already understands at such a young age that life offers us times of joy and sorrow. Regardless of good times or difficult times or whether God's ways are understood or not, Talu realizes he continues to have a Friend in God who loves him and cares for him.

Talu shared a verse with me that remains a comfort to him:

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. (Matt 21:22)

What a complete honor it is as an older brother or father figure to discuss the important things in life with Talu and the other kids at the Home. I can not imagine time together with a friend can get any better this, having Talu give me a hug with tears in his eyes as we shared and prayed together. This is what I believe God had in mind when He created the community of believers. How fortunate and blessed I am to have many friends of different ages and from all walks of life all these years. What an awesome community God can provide for each of us!

But let's face it, the closer we get to people the more difficult it is to say goodbye when we have to. I'm glad Talu and I discussed that even though it's difficult to be apart, we can be thankful for some very wonderful memories together. And if God should take either of us from this life before we meet again then we also have the assurance that we will see each other again in heaven one day. I know for Talu that day seems a far distance off but as we get older and understand that life is fragile and a gift on-loan from God, that day sure doesn't seem as far off as it used to."